No Bake Greek Yogurt Cheesecake(Without Gelatin!)

by Heidi @ Food Doodles on June 20, 2013

Now I realize I just shared a cheesecake treat with you recently, but I really couldn’t wait to share this one with you too. When I was younger I remember having my moms no bake cheesecake. I believe at one time it was the recipe on the package of a popular cream cheese, and included a can of sweetened condensed milk. Needless to say it was incredibly rich. And since it didn’t have gelatin in it, it didn’t have that Jello-like quality about it that some no bake cheesecakes sometimes do, which I don’t particularly like.

I’ve been wanting to try a slightly healthier take on that recipe from my childhood for ages now. I was a little nervous that it would never set properly. I was afraid you’d be able to tell it was a lower calorie treat. I was sure it would never live up to the cheesecake I remembered.

I was wrong.

This cheesecake exceeded all my expectations! It’s so rich you only need a small piece. It’s perfectly sweet. It’s so soft and lucious(not unnaturally firm). And while it does have lemon juice in it, it is not a lemon cheesecake, it just adds the right tanginess to the end result and adds to the richness of it. It is the perfect vehicle for so many fresh fruits. So whatever you have available to you this summer, this cheesecake will go beautifully with it. And I even took a picture after I sliced it to show you how it set up. Perfectly!

Now, you’ll noticed that it’s on a piece of parchment paper. I lined my dish with paper so that it would be easy to lift the cheesecake out for these pictures. You can do the same if you want, but it’s not necessary. The first piece may be difficult to get out but the rest will be just fine with an unlined dish. I chose to use my 8×8 square baking dish but a pie plate would be just fine too(which is what I normally do).

So let’s talk nutrition information for just a second. This is obviously not a low calorie treat, but it is considerably better than the original. My changes shaved close to 700 calories off the entire recipe. Now you’re definitely not going to eat an entire recipe, but off a small piece(1/12th of the entire recipe) you’re saving over 50 calories(70 calories off 1/9th which is a pretty large piece!), 3g of fat, 6g of sugar and you’re gaining a gram of protein. I’d say that’s a pretty good improvement especially considering how amazing this tastes!

Please give this a try sometime this summer, you will not regret it! Enjoy!

In a bowl stir together the crust ingredients until completely combined. Press firmly into the bottom of an 8x8 square baking dish or a pie plate. Place in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

To make the filling, place the room temperature cream cheese in a food processor along with the lemon juice, vanilla, honey and Greek yogurt. Process until completely combined and smooth. Alternatively you can use a hand or stand mixer, but be sure to beat the cream cheese first before adding all the other ingredients to avoid lumps.

Pour the filling mixer into the prepared crust, smooth out, cover and place in the fridge for at least 24 hours. Once the cheesecake has set slice, top as desired and serve immediately.

Notes

Freshly squeezed or bottled lemon juice both work perfectly. Just be sure to strain any lemon pieces out of your freshly squeezed lemon juice for a perfectly smooth cheesecake. If your honey is solid just warm it gently until liquid again.

These photos are beautiful and so is this cheesecake! My mom used to make a no-bake cheesecake with bananas and Nilla wafers and now I’m curious to see if I can figure out a way to make that one healthier too…Kiersten @ Oh My Veggies recently posted..What I Ate This Week + A Cookbook Update

I actually have some agar agar in my cupboard but I’ve never used it. The stuff I have is in these long strands and I have no idea if I can grind it up to make powder or what. Where do you get your powder from?

I don’t like gelatin or agar powder. I think the texture freaks me out. What does that mean for you? Well I’m 100% making this in my new mini cheesecake pans! Or not. I think it’d stick to the sides of the mold. Right?Erin @ Texanerin Baking recently posted..Grain-free / Gluten-free Strawberry Cupcakes

Hmmm… I think it would stick. But how badly, I don’t know. What kind of mini cheesecake pan do you have? The one with the removable bottom that you can push up to remove the cheesecakes? If so, if you put a piece of plastic wrap under the removable piece and then up the sides and then fill them with the crust and then cheesecake topping and you could pull the whole thing out and then peel back the plastic wrap. I don’t know if that even makes sense to you… It’s just a thought! 🙂

I have the kind with the removable bottom. What you said makes sense but I’m wondering if it’d look pretty! And since I need pictures, maybe I’ll just make it as bars. 🙂 I was going to make this today but then saw those raspberry lemonade bars on the front page and I just happened to buy 6 packages of half off raspberries last night. Which means it’s raspberry bonanza time! Whenever raspberries are on sale, I buy whatever is left at the store and make my raspberry recipes for the year. 😀

Heidi,
Thanks for posting this up for all to see! I also loved the “no bake” cheesecake my mother used to make…but the sugary condensed milk sent me to the moon! I’ve similarly exchanged that for the Greek yogurt with delicious and satisfying results! Only thing is I’ve used 1/2 cup organic dehydrated cane juice (organic sugar) instead of the honey. I’ve read many for years now that honey should never be cooked, as it becomes toxic. That’s why you should only buy and use “raw” honey for any purpose. Here’s a link with the Ayurvedic perspective (from a well-known and respected Ayurvedic healer): http://www.care2.com/greenliving/14-healing-remedies-with-honey.html. Just thought you might like to know, since you’re a very careful and concerned mom!

Sorry! Yeah, it’s a “no-bake” cheesecake! My brain wasn’t completely screwed on that day! I was actually searching the web for a New York cheesecake recipe when this one came up and caught my eye…so I kind of mixed both recipes in my head. So, for no-bake, yes, honey is fine; the comment still stands as perhaps sanguine advice though, as far as cooking with honey is concerned. Sorry for the error!

Help! I made this today and after 6 hours in the fridge it’s still not setting.. It’s not runny but it definitely won’t hold if I take it out of the springform pan.. Any idea what went wrong/ how to fix it?? I doubled the recipe do you think that might be the culprit? Need this for my boyfriend’s birthday tomorrow 🙁 I’m gonna give leave it in the fridge over night and see how it turns out tomorrow! If not I mightt freeze it and turn it into some sort of ice cream cake..
Sincerely,
Desperate 🙁

Oh no, I’m sorry Natalie! I found it took quite a while to set like at least overnight so hopefully it turned out alright by the time you wanted to serve it. It’s possible it didn’t work because it was doubled(especially if the filling was much thicker it might not hold up). I hope it turned out OK, frozen or not!

Gosh this looks good! I’m not a big fan of lemony sweets but it still looks so good I’m willing to try it! Just in case though, is the lemon juice just for flavor? I wonder if I could substitute it for something else 🙂

Hi Milena! Actually there is very little lemon flavor, the lemon just makes this very rich tasting and gives it that cheesecake tanginess(it’s definitely not a lemon cheesecake), so I would not leave it out(or use anything else in it’s place). You’ll have to let me know if you give it a try! 🙂

Hi! I’ve been interested in this recipe for a long time and finally tried it out last week, but ran into some problems. First of all, the cream cheese layer doesn’t really set well, I had it in the fridge for around 48hrs before we finally took it out to try, the cream is still a little runny.

We left the rest of the cake in the fridge and after 2 days got a shock when wanting to eat again. The cake was soaked in liquid, seems like the honey has separated and ooze out. Wonder if you could advise if it was due to too much yogurt? too much/little whipping of the ingredients and also how long could we keep this cake before consuming it?

Hi Evon! Thanks for leaving a message! The filling not setting could be due to too much yogurt, or yogurt that isn’t quick thick enough. Not all brands of Greek yogurt are the same, and some are thinner than others. I use a very thick Greek yogurt, so using a thinner yogurt could be the problem for that. If you give it another try, using less of the same yogurt may help. Unfortunately I’ve found that honey and yogurt do separate a bit, but again, I found that there is more when the yogurt isn’t as thick. Instead of using less yogurt, you could try trying to remove some moisture from your yogurt before using it by placing it in a strainer lined with cheesecloth to remove some of the liquid. Despite the liquid that separates from the filling you should be able to still enjoy the cheesecake for up to 5-7 days after you’ve made it. If there is a lot of liquid you can try draining it off or soaking it up with a paper towel, but I find it doesn’t bother anyone in my house, since it’s sweet from the honey.

Happy Valentine’s Day! I decide to bake a light raspberry yogurt cheesecake for my husband this Year to replace my usual chocolate gift box , thank you for the beautiful recipe, I will make mine based on your formula. Have a great day.

I made this today, but the filling was super runny. I was afraid it wouldn’t set so I mixed in one egg and baked it for an hour at 350, it’s super delicious. Mine did turn out very lemon-y, but I love lemon stuff so no problem with that! I bake with honey all the time, hasn’t killed me yet!

Hi Helen! Usually I keep it in the fridge, I’ve never tried putting it in the freezer. I think it might depend on what kind of Greek yogurt used. The kind I use is very thick, but I can see how a thinner variety might not work as well. If you can, let me know what kind you used 🙂 So sorry it’s not holding up for you!

Subscribe by email to get new recipes as soon as as they come out!

Subscribe by RSS, email or Bloglovin!

Connect with me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest or Twitter:

Welcome to Food Doodles!

Hi, I'm Heidi! I'm a mom of 3 kids ages 8 and under feeding my family real food. Heavy on the fruits and veggies but also full of healthy whole grain baked goodies, these are my experiments with good food, my Food Doodles.
Read more on my About page.